How do y'all deal with programs not supported on Linux?

I’ve been seeing all these posts about Linux lately, and looking at them, I can honestly see the appeal. I’d love having so much autonomy over the OS I use, and customize it however I like, even having so many options to choose from when it comes to distros. The only thing holding me back, however, is incompatibility issues. A lot of programs I work with very often are Windows-exclusive, and alternatives supporting Linux are rare. So I guess I’m stuck with Windows, since I deem those particular programs really important.

Any advice from Linux nerds here? All constructive replies are very appreciated.

BURN,

I don’t use Linux

Unfortunately alternatives for everything don’t exist. Adobe products, CAD and certain games just will not run under wine. I tried dual booting, but it became too much of a hassle to have to reboot my computer 4-5 times a day

AlecSadler,

For Visual Studio Enterprise, Adobe PDF editing, native Office apps, SSMS, and RDP thin clients, I use a Windows VM.

niisyth,

For occasional use of a Windows specific software, how feasible is it to keep a VM handy? Not too much of a drag or a bit of a hassle.

Been on the edge of turning the main OS to linux on the gaming rig.

AlecSadler,

I have a 2TB SSD and a 1TB SSD. My Windows VM is allocated 100GB, so it really isn’t bad at all. I use VirtualBox and it starts up basically instantly.

I just realized I have an oldish laptop with Windows on it though so I’m thinking maybe I should just remote into that instead…derp

brunofin,

Depends on what you do. I take care of this .Net 4.2 backend project which is not compatible with Linux in any safe way. For years I used windows and tbf I enjoyed it, but I am back to Linux and I use a VM with Windows on it to run the project on Rider. I have a setup which allows me to use the backend in this VM and the front-end, database and all rest is native on Linux. It works well for me with the downside of RAM usage, but I designed this laptop with this kind of use case in my from the very beginning so 64GB of RAM I have enough room to run the VM and everything else I need and steel have a snappy environment. I like it better this way, Linux has evolved so much in the past years I am honestly very impressed.

beejjorgensen,
@beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

When I needed Windows for a piece of software, I ran Windows on another computer. Later I got into a position where I didn’t need to use that software. 😁

mvirts,

First start using ardour gimp inkscape libreoffice and blender on windows, then dual boot or use a VM to install Linux and start challenging yourself to use it for real stuff when you can. You may eventually realize you’re using Linux much more than Windows, like when you boot into Windows and every time require a bunch of updates. Eventually your windows will be so out of date you remove it entirely or start using a windows vm.

AnUnusualRelic,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

I switched to Linux from Windows 3.11 because Microsoft software didn’t do what it was supposed to.

My method is that I don’t even know what’s available for Windows, so I don’t miss it at all. The opposite isn’t true though, and time spent in a Microsoft environment can quickly become painful.

My only regular contact with Windows is the Steam partition which hasn’t been used for quite some time. I have a laptop that has a small win11 partition that I boot every now and then to see what they’re up to these days.

However, in the end, the only real answer is that if you really need a piece of software, you just run whatever system that supports it. It’s not a religion, you use whatever is convenient for you at a given time.

d3Xt3r, (edited )

Ooh, Win 3.11? Which version of Linux did you switch to at the time?

I don’t recall the kernel version, but my first was Red Hat 5.2 in the late 90s. I didn’t switch to Linux permanently though, had it on dual-boot. But eventually it was SuSE that won me over, with their YaST tool and polished KDE implementation - seemed lightyears ahead of Win 9x and ME at the time.

AnUnusualRelic,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

At the time, I installed slackware with a lot of floppies.

Now, after trying quite a few, I settled on OpenSuSE Tumbleweed. It has one of the best KDE desktops, and basically just works, whatever you do with it. It’s comfortable and boring which I see as great qualities.

King4408,

Dualboot. Use windows only with the things that need windows (ie CADs) and linux for everything else.

interceder270,

Downside of dualbooting is you have to manage essentially 2 computers.

King4408,

Thats true, but it is not that different from running windows in a VM or a separate machine like a laptop. If you only use windows for little stuff, it does not require that much maintenance. Especially W10 since it stopped getting feature drops.

d3Xt3r, (edited )

Web apps (for MS Office/Teams), Wine (mostly for games and random apps), and for everything else, an optimized Tiny11 Core VM + WinApps for seamless windows/integration with Linux. My Tiny11 only uses 0-1% CPU and 600MB RAM on idle so I’ve got no issues running it in the background, besides it takes only a couple of seconds to launch, if I wanted to start it on demand.

I’ve also got a portable SSD with a copy of Windows installed on it, just in case I need it for some firmware updates or something (although I’m on a Thinkpad so pretty much everything can be updated via LVFS, but I keep it around just in case + it’s portable so there’s no harm in having it around).

Steamymoomilk,

Winapps is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing. I didnt know that existed till now.

mateomaui,

I’ve been looking at Tiny10 and 11, have you run into any particular problems using it?

d3Xt3r,

I only use it to run productivity apps inside a VM (Adobe Reader etc), so no issues here.

I think the most problems people have with it is running it on real hardware, since it lacks drivers and stuff.

mateomaui,

hmmm, good to know I may have to track down drivers for a regular install, I missed that. Thanks for the feedback!

sharkfucker420,
@sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml avatar

Windows vm

interceder270,

I shit my pants

GustavoM,
@GustavoM@lemmy.world avatar

I either compile em or run Windows to use said “program”.

…I mean… when the latter happens is always someone else’s PC, so eh.

NutWrench,
@NutWrench@lemmy.ml avatar

Libre Office completely takes care of my Office needs.

dvdnet89, (edited )
@dvdnet89@lemmy.today avatar

if the documents exchanged by others used complex macros written on VBA using excel it looks pretty bad on Libreoffice.

theRealBassist,

Office 365 online can be a good stopgap for those cases if you need it.

desconectado,

Or reference managers. I’m in academia and it’s a pain because I can’t edit anything on Linux without breaking the fine, I tried everything, LibreOffice, Only office… Nothing works.

rar,

I simply resorted to using a windows+office VM for work, back when I was exchanging office documents with coworkers a lot. Even subtle things like font rendering would be different, making a 2 page doc into a 3 pages, etc. (Rendering, not just support - mscorefonts was already installed)

Kongar, (edited )

The same thing I’ve always done - booted another OS that works with that software. No need to artificially limit yourself.

Once upon a time I remember running Dos, windows, os2 warp, and linux on one hard drive. Those were the days…. Ya ya, I’m going back to my retirement home bedroom…

Patch,

Use an alternative, or

Use Wine/Proton, or

Use a web app if it exists, or

Run Windows in a VM.

For me, the first 3 options covers 99.9% of my usage. It’s been a long time since I had to worry about installing Windows in a VM.

But to be fair, my requirements to use Windows software are very limited and non-critical. If:

A lot of programs I work with very often are Windows-exclusive

…then I would certainly consider keeping a Windows laptop around. Right tool for the job and all that.

Arthur_Leywin,

Virtual machine or Bottles. If neither can help then I just take the L

theRealBassist,

What are bottles?

Arthur_Leywin,

It’s a thing that’s built on top of wine (Windows application compatibility thingy). Its purpose is to create environments for Windows applications in a very user-friendly manner with a GUI. I think whatever you can do in Bottles, someone could do with the terminal using wine but that’s difficult.

Haven’t used Bottles in a while but you just get the .exe file like you would when using Windows OS, then you put it in the Bottles, and it should run. I have no clue about the details, but if you click enough buttons, it should work properly.

TwinTusks,

A question regarding bottles, do I have to install dependencies in the settings? My exe all installed without error but can’t open.

Arthur_Leywin,

Not sure. I guess it depends on the software you’re trying to use. Watcha downloading? Maybe I can try it on my end.

TwinTusks, (edited )

I am just testing things out, so I’m trying to install Kindle Previewer and Caesium image compressor. All install correctly, but crash upon execute.

This is the error for Kindle Previewer


<span style="color:#323232;">18:13:06 (INFO) Catalog installers loaded 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">18:13:06 (INFO) Catalog dependencies loaded 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">18:13:06 (INFO) Catalog components loaded 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">18:13:09 (INFO) Launching an executable… 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">18:13:09 (WARNING) Windows path detected. Avoiding validation. 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">18:13:09 (INFO) Using Wine Starter -- run 
</span><span style="color:#323232;">wineserver: using server-side synchronization.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">wine: RLIMIT_NICE is &lt;= 20, unable to use setpriority safely
</span><span style="color:#323232;">002c:err:wineboot:process_run_key Error running cmd L"C:\windows\system32\winemenubuilder.exe -r" (2).
</span><span style="color:#323232;">0118:err:ntlm:ntlm_LsaApInitializePackage no NTLM support, expect problems
</span>
Arthur_Leywin, (edited )

I’m having issues too. I’d just use a VM at that point xD. With Bottles it’s usually hit or miss but with a VM, almost anything works. Sorry friend🤧

Edit: my virtual machine manager of choice is GNOME Boxes because it’s very easy to use. If it doesn’t work it usually means KVM or SVM (one of them) is disabled in your BIOS.

TwinTusks,

NP, I guess I’ll just have to accept it (I only use it to convert ebooks to KFX format, it seems a bit overkill to have VM Windows just for that.)

Thank you for trying to help.

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